Jasper Johnson (Link Academy Photo)
ESPN has Link Academy (Branson, Mo.) ranked as the nation’s No. 4 high school basketball team this week which seems logical considering it not only starts five elite Division I players but even brings a future Missouri player off the bench.
Link will play in Versailles Sunday as part of the Court XIV Classic to honor the memory of Alvis Johnson, the iconic Kentucky high school football/track coach and administrator, who recently passed away. His son, Dennis, is athletics director/football coach at Woodford County and Jasper Johnson, Alvis’ grandson, is a former Woodford County star who now plays for Link.
Link will take on Huntington Prep (W.V.) and star guard Darryn Peterson, a Kentucky target and No. 3 player in the 2025 recruiting class, Sunday at 6 p.m. after host Woodford plays Tates Creek at 3.
Link coach Bill Armstrong was excited to have his team participate in this special event. He never knew Alvis Johnson but felt like he did.
“Dennis quotes him so much it makes me feel like I knew him. I wish I had known him as a coach and person,” Armstrong said. “We thought this would be a really good thing to do. Jasper is a special player for us and Dennis and I have gotten pretty close. To help the family honor the patriarch is something special for us.”
Dennis Johnson also wanted to let his son, Jasper, who helped Woodford reach the state tournament last year before transferring to Link Academy this season, have a chance to play a game at home in front of family and friends.
Alvis Johnson played a “huge” role in Jasper’s athletic career and was the first to urge him to consider not playing football this season to concentrate on basketball only since he’s a top 10 prospect in the 2025 recruiting class. That helped lead to Jasper’s transfer to Link Academy.
Jasper told me before the event was officially announced that he was “eager to honor the legacy” of his grandfather and remembers his grandfather always telling him to “play like it is your last game.” That’s one reason Jasper sometimes changes shoes even during a game to show his style.
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Tickets must be purchased online here.
